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One of the first activities Scott became involved with was the Key Club, a community service organization under the Kiwanis Club.
For more than three years, Scott worked in the School Store (Olev HaShalom), eventually become a board member in his junior year. Scott made many friends through the school store and took on a lot of responsibility managing items and always creating great displays. Scott even convinced his friend Mike Ricci to get involved. The School Store was located in Room 101, under the direction of Mrs. Carolyn Carioscia.
East Meadow High School is known for its outstanding Performing Arts departments. Scott was a member of the Freshman Chorus his first year, under the direction of Mr. Doug "Dougie" March. We were a small-but-good ensemble meeting third period every day. Our famous Tenor Section was Brian Levine, Mike Ricci, and myself. Jodi Frede later became our only female tenor. Other prominent chorus figures over the next three years were Lou Atchison (bass), Alyssa Kimbrell (soprano), David Korn (countertenor), and others. Our running joke that year were Mr. March's "lectures" (It Is A Constant Battle was our favorite titled lecture that year), and Ed Lojeski.
 The next year, we moved on to the Senior Chorale (left over from the East Meadow "Senior" High School - 10-12), under the direction of the zany, crazy, but talented Rodney Tibbetts. Musically, it was an exciting year. "Rod" Tibbetts, with his stopwatch clock to see how much time we wasted talking, introduced us to some classic works of music, as well as jazz and modern arrangements. That year, I became a member of the East Meadow Jazz Chorus - a selected group of twelve to sixteen singers from the Senior Chorale who performed jazz as a separate ensemble. That year, 1996, the Senior Chorale took first place - EXCEPTIONAL - at Hershey's Music in the Parks concert. We came back with a big trophy to display in our new chorus room - 112B. That Spring, we were upset to hear the Mr. Tibbetts would be retiring and couldn't imagine anyone who could replace such a fun-loving, talented music teacher.
That person came in the form of an energetic, verteran musician and teacher named Gloria Elliott. Mrs. Elliott introduced her bold ideas and new material into our Chorale. We moved next door to a larger room (the old machine shop in 112A). As our repertoire grew and our quality increased, Mrs. Elliott worked hard with Mr. March to showcase the Choral Program as a legitimate part of the Music Department and East Meadow community.
Our instrumental music program was one of the most outstanding programs in the country. Just about every other year, our Senior Band, under the direction of Mr. Ken Sepe, Mr. Joel Levy, and Mrs. Abby Behr, took first place in the Columbus Day Parade and thrusted East Meadow into the spotlight.
As well as being a part of the National Music Honor Society, Scott became a member of the East Meadow chapter of the Nationl Honor Society (NHS), an organization dedicated to academic excellence.
The best times Scott had at East Meadow High School involved the East Meadow High School Theatre Guild. The Theatre Guild was a well-known organization famous for its excellence in all aspects of Theatre. Many critics have rated EMHS as having "the best Drama Department of any public high school on Long Island." For almost 27 years, our advisor was Jared Hershkowitz, an invaluable asset to the Guild. Informally refered to as "Hersh" by all of his students, his driving force allowed the Theatre Guild to succeed in all its ventures.
Scott's Freshman year was truly an exciting time in the history of the EMHS Theatre Guild. In addition to our two main spaces, the Auditorium and Little Theater, Hersh had managed to obtain Room 113 - the old car repair shop - as a "black box theater" called the Performing Arts Center, or PAC for short.
Scott became involved with the Theatre Guild from his first days in EMHS. He immediately became a staple in the tech aspect - especially through his extensive-but-growing knowledge of stage lighting. After his first year in Theatre Guild, Scott was known as "the first Freshman who knew possibly more about lights than Hersh." Scott was an assistant lighting designer his first semester for Go Ask Alice, a serious play about teenage drug use. He also became involved in Children's Theatre, a subdivision of Theatre Guild that performed its children's plays for elementary students in the district's five schools and public library. For the two years Scott was active, he appeared in "Miss Nelson is Missing" under the direction of Heather Sheil, and "Stone Soup."
42nd Street, quite possibly the best high school production ever produced, was the Spring Musical in 1995. Scott was a member of the chorus and also helped with lighting. The quality of 42nd Street was just stunning. We had adults screaming for more - community reviews of the show stated "this was better than some Broadway shows I've seen." Wow. The girls in the chorus spent endless hours after school rehearsing complicated tap dance numbers to put to the incredible pit band, directed by Mr. Joel Levy. We played four standing ovations.
 
Budget increases and threatened legal action over asbestos wiring led to an amazing accomplishment in 1995: the districtwide installation of new stage lighting systems.
 The 1996-1997 school year brought Class Action, an interesting corellation of scenes out of the lives of high school students. That year, Scott and his friend Adam Deutsch became the Tech Supervisors. Tech was growing that year, and they did a great job organizing it all! The tech photo from that year can be seen above. Nicole Friedman, who Scott met through Theatre Guild's Tech Crew, became Scott's girlfriend and prom date in his Senior year [Prom Pics]. The Spring Musical was Annie Get Your Gun, which was a smashing success. The 1997 cast can be seen below:      After Annie Get Your Gun, the unspeakable happened. We learned that Hersh was having "issues" with our new administration and was going to resign as Theatre Guild supervisor. In effect, it was the end of Theatre Guild as we knew it. The next year, under the temporary advisorship of Mr. Bob Budnick, the Guild continued hanging by a thread. Unfortunately for East Meadow, the Theatre Guild has never really recovered from the departure of Hersh. Nevertheless, in the Fall of 1997, we performed The Nerd, a very funny comedy starring Brian Levine, Douglas Spitzer, and Josh Alpert. Scott's last show in EMHS was the very successful Anything Goes, starring Scott, Brian Levine, Mike Ricci, Michelle Albino, Alyssa Kimbrell, Louis Atchison, and Brigette Donato. A four-year career in Theatre Guild had come to a close on a very positive note.
 To see more Anything Goes photos, click here. [East Meadow High School Theatre Guild Website - up to 1998] Aside from all of this, Scott worked in the Main Office, the Guidance Office, and the Library. He and Mike Ricci did the morning announcements every day for at least a year or two, and became infamous for it. Scott researched and designed an informative website for the East Meadow High School Library [EMHS Library Website]. The teachers he had at East Meadow High School were some of the finest and most dedicated people he's ever met - thanks! Scott graduated in June 1998 with a Scholar's Diploma. He won too many awards to mention on this website for his academic excellence, community service, and organizational participation. [East Meadow High School Official Website]
Go on to Binghamton University (1998-2002)
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After an exciting three years at Woodland, Scott started East Meadow Senior High School. It didn't take Scott too long to adjust to high school, and he became actively involved with a number of clubs.
Scott attended the New York District Key Club Convention at Kutsher's Country Club in 1995, participated in the talent show, and won an award for East Meadow. Key Club was a rewarding experience, but Scott was only a member for two years.
Many thousands of canned Snapples, Fudge Brownies, balloons, school supplies, and so many random items were sold in that room. Unfortunately, in 1997 the Powers That Be decided that Room 101 would be more useful as a classroom and Administrative Conference Center, and the School Store was closed. More rooms were now needed because EMHS was becoming overcrowded.
Mr. Vance did an excellent job with the String Orchestra as well. In 1997, the Tri-M National Music Honor Society chapter was introduced at East Meadow High School, and Scott became a member.
The year Scott was inducted into the National Honor Society, controversy broke out regarding academic standards and membership in NHS. Mr. Alu, longtime NHS advisor, resigned from the position for a semester or so because of the issues, but then decided to come back. Mr. Alu, who was our 10th Grade AP European History teacher, organized many activities for NHS. We frequently went on trips to New York City to see Broadway shows, New Jersey to go to Medieval Times, and various academic competitions.
Of course, Scott played an instrumental role in the setup and design of both the Woodland JHS and East Meadow HS systems. Our old autotransfomer lighting board and manual patch panel were ripped out - the stage was basically gutted and re-done.
We received a powerful new DMX-driven system consisting of the 96-dimmer Strand CD80-Supervisor rack, the GSX memory lighting computer, and several remote stations. To this day, Scott is called back to East Meadow to teach students and teachers how to use such complicated equipment. Throughout his years at EMHS, Scott was the stage lighting expert - he was always busy designing, focusing, and running lights for concerts, shows, and other events. He spent way too much time on top of a twenty-five-foot cherry picker ladder - hanging from rafters - in order to focus front-of-house ellipsoidals! For an independent study project his Senior year, Scott wrote a small book on stage lighting. Scott's first lighting design on the new system was for the 1996 production of "The Wizard of Oz - Royal Shakespeare Version", which starred Denise Elia, Jennifer Dickman, Marc Weiser, Brett Sheil, Jeremy Packman, Adam "East Cheese", and others. The Fall Show that year (Fall 1995) was a murder mystery called Dedicated to the End, which was unique in its movement from the Little Theater to the PAC to the Auditorium Stage. Props to Pat Fama and Josh, our tech supervisors that year.
